Currently call centres are most commonly used for providing consumer support for certain companies and offering information in general. For example, a telesales centre or a centre offering remote sale of goods and services to the user/consumer focuses on two main methods.
Firstly there is cold calling, where the seller contacts the user to offer them their products or services. In this case the user may become aggressive, since the call was not made by them directly, and therefore unless they happen to want the product at that precise moment, the communication is largely unproductive. Furthermore, the information flow that may pass between the seller or representative and the user is limited solely to the telephone audio channel. In other instances the user may call the seller after having seen an advertisement for a product or service that they may be interested in, but this trade channel requires a costly advertising campaign beforehand in order to reach the potential user/consumer.
Another channel for making remote contact or pursuing telesales or providing support and information is through computers connected to the Internet and publishing promotional websites, hosted by an appropriate server. By using this data communication channel, users (primarily interested users) can search for the product they are interested in and contact the seller or representative who is offering the products or services. However, the use of websites limits direct contact between the seller, information provider or host and the user, which is often vital for providing more information and stimulating the user's interest.
In an attempt to resolve this problem, some websites have video conferencing services to enable the user to speak to a representative directly. Nevertheless, this method of communication presents certain problems.
Thus, in some cases video conferencing or telepresence systems are used. These systems require both the user and the provider to have specific equipment in order to be able to use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, which means that users must have a computer with a microphone and headphones that have been properly installed and set up for use. In certain cases video conferencing also requires the user to use webcams, which makes the connection even more complicated, since not all users have this equipment or have it installed compatibly.
In certain cases the equipment used is a specific integrated video conferencing device. These are not used on a mass scale and therefore would be useful only for a small number of users.
These video conferencing systems have high bandwidth consumption and therefore perform poorly over connections with insufficient bandwidth, with outages and delays occurring in the voice reproduction. As a result they are not suitable for a flowing conversation. In addition, most common domestic internet connections, for example ADSL, have an upload speed that is slower than the download speed; therefore the communication in the user-representative direction is very limited.
A further difficulty is that these systems require the user to download or install additional software or specific plug-ins for the browser they are using in order to provide the appropriate program and protocol resources with which to establish the communication. This can be awkward and difficult depending on the user's computer.